It’s a scorching hot and sticky May morning in Charlotte and there are still 111 days until the Carolina Panthers start the new NFL season against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Bank of America Stadium is deserted, aside from a group of engineers down on the field who are dismantling a stage that Shakira performed on the night before.
The outline of Charlotte FC’s soccer field can be seen on the turf and the absence of gridiron markings makes you realize football season is still a long way away.
But, on the other side of a train track that runs behind the stadium, Dave Canales and his Panthers players are working on the practice fields. Momentum is coursing through this team and their head coach doesn’t want it to stop.
The Panthers have not made the playoffs in the last six NFL seasons but they are now showing signs of moving in the right direction. A 5-12 record last year does not tell the whole story.
They were 1-7 at one point but back-to-back wins against the Saints and Giants were a turning point. When they returned they only narrowly lost to the Chiefs in overtime, the Eagles and Buccaneers. They may be losses in the history books but those games told Canales he is ‘absolutely’ on the right track.
Dave Canales and the Carolina Panthers want to build on the momentum they built last season
Quarterback Bryce Young impressed down the stretch and cemented his place as the starter
‘In the early part of the season, the wins were spread out,’ he tells Daily Mail in a suite overlooking Bank of America Stadium.
‘We had a win here, a couple losses there, another win here, and we really had to battle to find a way to, regardless of the outcome, come back and learn what happened, have solutions for it and then attack the next week and have a great practice.
‘Whether you’re a team that’s struggling to find wins or you’re a team that’s expected to win every week, like the Chiefs and Eagles, there is huge pressure on both ends of this. The way work through that is to have the resilience to come back to work and keep working on your craft regardless of the outcome, whether you win or lose.
‘But they (those losses) reminded the guys there are no moral victories. It’s going to show up as a win or a loss. But we could point to great football being played. We could point to the film, and that’s really the most powerful tool, to say “Guys, we’ve been emphasizing these things, you are improving in these areas, and look at the brand of football we’re playing”. I’m proud of that.’
Canales, 44, was hired by Panthers GM Dan Morgan, who also joined in the same month. Together, they were tasked with turning the franchise around by owner David Tepper.
The 67-year-old billionaire’s ownership has not been successful so far. The Panthers have a 36–80 record under his leadership and there has been plenty of controversy along the way.
Morgan insists Tepper is very different as an owner to the way he is portrayed in public. He says: ‘David and Nicole Tepper are just really good people. They’re easy to work for. They create a really good environment.
‘People think he’s super difficult but he’s not at all. He’s an easy going guy who just wants to win. He definitely has high standards, which he should, but we have high standards as well. I love coming in and working with them every single day.’
GM Dan Morgan (right) loves working for owner David Tepper, despite his divisive personality
The Panthers haven’t made the playoffs for six seasons and had a 5-12 record last year
Morgan, 46, came to Charlotte with his own pedigree. He played in a Super Bowl for the Panthers (losing to Tom Brady and the Patriots in 2004) before winning the Lombardi Trophy as an executive with the Seahawks 10 years later.
Together, Morgan and Canales are forging their own path together and their second year as a duo will be a good test of their progress.
‘I can’t think of a better person to be able to do this with. First time head coach, first time GM,’ Canales explains.
‘We were able to work together for seven years in Seattle in assistant roles. We enjoy each other’s company and to be able to build a team together has been a dream. I have such a high regard and respect for Dan.
‘Remembering the type of player that he was, the tenacity that he brought, the effort that he played with, that style is what we’re looking for. It’s just a privilege for me to be able to do this with him.’
One of the players that matches that specific profile is Austin Corbett. This summer he was named the Panthers’ starting center after three years in Charlotte that have been hampered by injuries.
Corbett has seen coaching excellence up close. He played every single game for Sean McVay’s Rams team that won the Super Bowl in 2022 and thinks there are similarities between McVay and Canales.
‘Dave’s figuring it out, right? Sean had been around a little bit, or he had already kind of been in that role, so he had some more things figured out,’ he says.
Starting center Austin Corbett says there are similarities between Canales and Sean McVay
‘But Sean and Dave are similar in the same sense of every day they show up, have their values, they’re sticking to them and they’re not going to change, no matter the success or the struggles.
‘That’s the biggest part of being a head coach in the NFL. Knowing things are hard and going to get really hard. Even when you have success, you can’t change the process, you have to convince guys this is who you are, this is what you believe in.
‘That’s exactly what both of them do very well, where every day you show up as a player and you know what you’re going to get. You know the process is going to be the same. It just makes it easy week in, week out, to be there.’
Canales got his break as a head coach after helping to turn Baker Mayfield’s career around in Tampa Bay. He also guided Geno Smith in Seattle and it was hoped he could do something similar with Bryce Young.
A major talking point of Canales’ first year as head coach came when he benched Young after his team lost their first two games. He replaced him with Andy Dalton, saying the veteran ‘gives us our best chance to win this week.’
The Alabama product had struggled enormously in the NFL since being drafted by the Panthers with the No. 1 overall pick in 2023 NFL Draft and was not given a second chance until Week 8 when Dalton suffered a thumb injury in a car wreck.
Young’s reinstatement turned the Panthers’ season around and he impressed so much that Canales named him the team’s No. 1 quarterback moving forward after an overtime win in Atlanta in Week 18.
Speaking about that decision and Young’s resurgence, Canales said: ‘My commitment to doing what’s best for the team will always come first. That’s for our staff; that’s for our players. I’m going to try to make the right decision for the Panthers and for everyone involved.
Canales benched Young early last season but he came back into the team and impressed
‘The quarterback decision was a part of that. I was trying to do what’s best for the team. I must just give Bryce the credit. He attacked every day. He was challenged in certain ways. He attacked those challenges. He continued to lead.
‘He continued to be in front, visible, vocal and supportive, and in such a way that he was telling me, “This is my team” and I could feel that.
‘So when he got his opportunity again, that’s the approach that he came back and came in with it. He was unwavering in his own belief of himself, and his belief in the team and what we could become.
‘That’s a huge reason why we were able to play such good football towards the end of the season.’
Despite Young’s performances and the team’s improvement towards the end of the season, defensive problems plagued the Panthers throughout. They were the worst in the entire NFL and became just the fourth team to allow 3,000 rushing yards.
They have made some valuable additions in free agency and the draft and will welcome back some starters from injury. They also put their faith in cornerback Jaycee Horn, who signed a four-year, $100million contract extension in March to become the highest-paid defensive back in NFL history at the time.
Talking about the the defense’s struggles last season, Horn says: ‘Obviously, it’s a long season and when it’s not going your way, it seemed extra-long.
The defense was terrible last year but Jaycee Horn signed a four-year, $100million contract
‘It’s not fun when you’re losing football games, but at the same time you grow closer to your brothers, closer to your teammates, because you’ve got to lean on each other, especially when you have a season like that.
‘I think, personally, I played decent. I don’t think I did anything crazy special, you know, I still think I got a lot of growth to make as a player and I think people will see that this year.’
Morgan’s busy offseason of recruitment has seen the Panthers add former Chiefs player Tershawn Wharton, ex-Vikings pass rusher Pat Jones and former Rams star Bobby Brown to the defense. Pro Bowl defensive end Derrick Brown is also back after missing 16 games in 2024 following knee surgery.
But the most excitable addition is wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, who they selected out of Arizona with the No. 8 overall pick. Experienced running backs Rico Dowdle and Travis Etienne have also arrived.
‘Dan and I want to create great competition in every room because we don’t want people to be comfortable and complacent with their role,’ Canales explains.
‘We talk about challenging our roster and want to throw new players in that will challenge this person to keep pushing, to keep finding an edge and to see if somebody can help us. We felt great about what we added in free agency, and then in the draft it was the same approach.
‘Let’s make sure, first and foremost, we have figured these guys out, that they fit what we’re trying to do, and then how can they help us and create competition?
‘Some of our draft picks were really focused on high character guys, high effort players that fit what we’re trying to do, how we want to practice. We did that and it’s showing up on the practice field.’
Hometown hero Ikem Ekwonu is desperate to make the playoffs this year and be a Pro Bowler
For all the big-money acquisitions and exciting new names, the Panthers count a hometown hero in their ranks. Ikem Ekwonu was a first-round draft pick back in 2022 and has started almost every game since he got to the NFL.
He was forced to have an emergency appendectomy in the last week of August, meaning he is day-to-day going into the new season.
Not only does he have high expectations for himself, but his ambitions for the team are aligned with Canales and Morgan’s vision for what the Panthers can become.
‘I want to be a Pro Bowler,’ the offensive tackle says. ‘That’s a big goal of mine. But I want to get a trophy. I want to make the damn playoffs.
‘You know, it’s been six years. The Panthers are in a playoff drought. I want to get back to those winning times and get back to having fun playing football in Carolina.’
